Henry Norris Russell
|birth_place = Oyster Bay, New York, USA |death_date = |death_place = Princeton, New Jersey, USA |residence = |citizenship = |nationality = American |alma_mater = Princeton University |doctoral_advisor = Charles Augustus Young |doctoral_students = }} |known_for = |influences = |influenced = | awards = * Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1921) * Henry Draper Medal (1922) * Bruce Medal (1925) * Janssen Medal (French Academy of Sciences) (1936) * ForMemRS (1937) |signature = |footnotes = |ethnicity = Jewish |field = Astronomy |work_institutions = Princeton University |religion = }} Prof Henry Norris Russell ForMemRS HFRSE FRAS (October 25, 1877 – February 18, 1957) was an American astronomer who, along with Ejnar Hertzsprung, developed the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram (1910). In 1923, working with Frederick Saunders, he developed Russell–Saunders coupling, which is also known as LS coupling.David H. DeVorkin, Henry Norris Russell - google booksGeorge Kean Sweetnam, The Command of Light - google books [http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/MNRAS/0118//0000311.000.html Obituary MNRAS 118 (1958) 311][http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/Obs../0077//0000067.000.html Obituary Obs 77 (1957) 67][http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/PASP./0069//0000223.000.html Obituary PASP 69 (1957) 223] Bibliography in Bruce Medalist page for Russell maintained by Joseph Tenn at Sonoma State University Life Russell was born on 25 October 1877, at Oyster Bay, New York, the son of Rev Alexander Gatherer Russell (1845-1911) and his wife, Eliza Hoxie Norris. He studied astronomy at Princeton University, obtaining his B.A. In 1897 and his doctorate in 1899, studying under Charles Augustus Young. From 1903 to 1905, he worked at the Cambridge Observatory with Arthur Robert Hinks as a research assistant of the Carnegie Institution and came under the strong influence of George Darwin. He returned to Princeton to become an instructor in astronomy (1905–1908), assistant professor (1908–1911), professor (1911–1927) and research professor (1927–1947). He was also the director of the Princeton University Observatory from 1912 to 1947. He died in Princeton, New Jersey on 18 February 1957 at the age of 79. He is buried in Princeton Cemetery.https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8056675/henry-norris-russell Family In November 1908 Russell married Lucy May Cole (1881-1968). They had four children. Their youngest daughter, Margaret Russell (1914-1999), married the astronomer Frank K. Edmondson in the 1930s. Published work Russell co-wrote an influential two-volume textbook in 1927 with Raymond Smith Dugan and John Quincy Stewart: Astronomy: A Revision of Young’s Manual of Astronomy (Ginn & Co., Boston, 1926–27, 1938, 1945). This became the standard astronomy textbook for about two decades. There were two volumes: the first was The Solar System and the second was Astrophysics and Stellar Astronomy. The textbook popularized the idea that a star's properties (radius, surface temperature, luminosity, etc.) were largely determined by the star's mass and chemical composition, which became known as the Vogt-Russell theorem (including Heinrich Vogt who independently discovered the result). Since a star's chemical composition gradually changes with age (usually in a non-homogeneous fashion), stellar evolution results. Russell dissuaded Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin from concluding that the composition of the Sun is different from that of the Earth in her thesis, as it contradicted the accepted wisdom at the time. He realized she was correct four years later after deriving the same result by different means. In his paper Russell credited Payne with discovering that the Sun had a different chemical composition from Earth. * * * * Awards and honors * Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1921) * Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1921) * Lalande Prize (1922) * Henry Draper Medal from the National Academy of Sciences (1922) * Bruce Medal (1925) * Rumford Prize (1925) * Franklin Medal (1934) * Janssen Medal from the French Academy of Sciences (1936) * Foreign Member of the Royal Society (1937) * Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1938) * Henry Norris Russell Lectureship (1946) * asteroid 1762 Russell References Category:1877 births Category:1957 deaths Category:People from Oyster Bay, New York Category:American astronomers Category:American astrophysicists Category:Princeton University alumni Category:Princeton University faculty Category:People from Princeton, New Jersey Category:Burials at Princeton Cemetery Category:Recipients of the Bruce Medal Category:Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society Category:Foreign Members of the Royal Society Category:Recipients of awards from the United States National Academy of Sciences Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences